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| United States Patent |
6,010,550
|
|
Song
|
January 4, 2000
|
Air filter for a vacuum cleaner
Abstract
An air filter for a vacuum cleaner to easily clear floors, carpets, chairs
and so on includes a the main body having a motor and a deflation hole
installed in a dust collector having an intake port, and a filter means
provided between the dust collector and the main body, wherein the main
body includes a fixing part formed in the middle of the bottom part to
secure an outlet filter and having a peripheral stepped portion in a
downward conic-shape to mount a fixing frame having a number of intake
slit and the filter means to be installed to the fixing frame includes an
activated charcoal filter, a dust removing filter and a static electricity
filter to remove sludge, stink, offensive smell and gas generated from
various materials in a room by means of these filters being easy to
install in the vacuum cleaner.
| Inventors:
|
Song; Young-So (5-103 Kaepo 1-Cha Woosung Apt., 503 Daechi 1-Dong, Kangnam-gu, Seoul, KR)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
217620 |
| Filed:
|
December 22, 1998 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Current U.S. Class: |
55/482; 55/485; 55/500; 55/529; 55/DIG.3; 96/223 |
| Intern'l Class: |
B01D 053/04 |
| Field of Search: |
55/482,485,486,488,529,DIG. 3,DIG. 8,500
96/223,FOR 175
261/DIG. 65
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
| 5248323 | Sep., 1993 | Stevenson | 55/DIG.
|
| 5287591 | Feb., 1994 | Rench et al. | 55/DIG.
|
| 5307538 | May., 1994 | Rench et al. | 55/DIG.
|
| 5498272 | Mar., 1996 | Leon | 55/DIG.
|
Primary Examiner: Simmons; David A.
Assistant Examiner: Pham; Minh-Chau T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Bacon & Thomas
Claims
I claim:
1. An air filter for a vacuum cleaner including a dust collector having an
intake port, a main body having a motor for originating vacuum and a
deflation hole, and filter means provided between said dust collector and
said main body, and wherein
said main body includes a fixing part formed in the middle of a bottom part
of said main body and having a peripheral stepped portion which is formed
downwardly in a conic-shape, so that an outlet filter is mounted under a
center part of said fixing part and a fixing frame formed with a number of
intake slit is rotatable mounted under the peripheral stepped portion of
said fixing part; and said filter means includes a static electricity
filter which is charged with static electricity, an activated charcoal
filter which is made of non-woven, papers, textiles, and has activated
charcoal impregnated therein, and a dust filter which surrounds a
periphery of the activated charcoal filter, the static electricity filter,
the activated charcoal filter and the dust being formed conically to be
fitted with said fixing frame successively.
2. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said static
electricity filter and said dust removing filter are arranged outside the
fixing frame, and said activated charcoal filter is arranged inside the
fixing frame, in said filter means.
3. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the activated
charcoal filter is formed as a container of resin having a ventilative bag
of non-woven material impregnated with activated charcoal.
4. The air filter for vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the activated
charcoal impregnated in the non-woven material is piled up.
5. The filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the activated
charcoal filter and the dust removing filter of said filter means are
respectively formed with a plurality of wings in upper periphery.
6. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the activated
charcoal filter is formed as a container of resin having a ventilative bag
of textile impregnated with activated charcoal.
7. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the activated
charcoal filter is formed as a container of resin having a ventilative bag
with activated charcoal granules.
8. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the activated
charcoal filter is piled up in the textile.
9. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the activated
charcoal filter is piled up with activated charcoal granules.
10. The air filter for a vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein said static
electric filter and said activated charcoal filter are arranged inside the
fixing frame, and said dust removing filter is arranged outside the fixing
frame, in said filter means.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an air filter for a vacuum cleaner to
easily clear floors, carpets, chairs and so on in the manner of vacuum
intake, wherein an activated charcoal filter impregnating activated
charcoal, a dust removing filter for filtering the dust of minute
particles, a static electricity filter charged with static electricity are
further provided to remove sludge, stink, offensive smell and gas
generated from various materials in a room by means of these filters and
easy to install in the vacuum cleaner.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a vacuum cleaner includes a blower motor for making a
vacuum state and an envelope-type filter in a main body, so that sludge is
introduced into the main body of the cleaner by the vacuum power generated
by driving the motor, and filtered by the filter, making filth residue in
the main body of the cleaner, thereby only the air passing through the
filter deflates through a deflation hole provided in an upper part of the
main body.
The conventional filter has disadvantages that it is impossible to remove
the gas including minute dust of odor, since the conventional filter
provided in the main body of the cleaner as described above is made of
mat-shape porous net, so that it filters merely the sludge having
relatively large-sized particles, which is introduced into the main body
of the cleaner by the vacuum power.
Therefore, the conventional filter as the above has defects that it can
collect and discard only trash, but fails to remove contaminants
substantially, and to prevent the air from contaminating since the minute
dust, gas, and odor are deflated through the deflation hole when air is
deflated after collecting the sludge. Especially, it has been worried
about fire or explosion due to sparks generated by the cleaner motor etc.,
because the filters can not purify inflammable gas, harmful gas and so on,
in case that these gases are sucked into the cleaner. Therefore, it is
difficult to use the cleaner in the place where the inflammable gas or
harmful gas would be generated, and it has to comprise extra purification
devices to remove the gas, dust and odor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was derived to overcome the problems encountered in
the conventional filters. It is an object of the present invention to
provide an air filter for a vacuum cleaner, in which the vacuum cleaner
can easily clear floors, carpets, chairs and so on in the manner of vacuum
intake, by means of an activated charcoal filter including the activated
charcoal, a dust removing filter for filtering dust of minute particles, a
static electricity filter charged with static electricity to remove
harmful substances generated in a room, for example, gas or odor from
adhesives used in wallpapers or furniture, gas or odor from chemical
materials of construction materials, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
from cooking, and exhaust gas of vehicles sucked from the outdoor, and to
install the filters easily and certainly.
These objects will become apparent from the following description taken
together with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed
description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are
given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the
present invention, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view of an air filter according
to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing an air filter
according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing an air filter
according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing the construction of an
activated charcoal filter that is in the form of container, according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the construction of an
activated charcoal filter according to another embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing another embodiment of the
activated charcoal filter according to the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing another embodiment of the
activated charcoal filter according to the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing a filter means according to
an embodiment of the present invention, which is in an assembled state;
and
FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view showing a filter means according to
another embodiment of the present invention, which is disassembled.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the construction of an air filter according to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, in a vacuum
cleaner, a main body 1 having a motor for originating vacuum and a
deflation hole 4 is installed in a dust collector 3 having an intake port
2, and a filter means 5 is provided between the dust collector 3 and the
main body 1. In the main body 1, a fixing part 6 is formed in the middle
of a bottom part to secure an outlet filter 7 and a peripheral stepped
portion is formed downwardly in a conic-shape in the fixing part 6. A
fixing frame 8 formed with a number of intake slit 9 is rotatably mounted
to the fixing part 6, and the filter means 5 is installed under the fixing
frame 8.
The filter means 5, which is installed under the fixing frame 8, includes a
static electricity filter 10 which is charged with static electricity, an
activated charcoal filter 11 made of non-woven, papers, textiles, etc.,
impregnating the activated charcoal therein, and a dust removing filter 12
surrounding the periphery of the activated charcoal filter 11, wherein the
filters 10, 11, 12 are formed conically to be provided successively under
the fixing frame 8.
The filter means 5 as above may be formed by different arrangement, for
example, the static filter 10 and the dust removing filter 12 are disposed
outside the fixing frame 8 in sequence and, the activated charcoal filter
11 is disposed inside the fixing frame 8.
Referring to FIG. 2, the activated charcoal filter 11 may be formed with a
container 13 of resin and a ventilative bag to be inserted in the
container 13. The ventilative bag is made of non-woven or textile net
impregnating the activated charcoal in its net. Also, the ventilative bag
may be put with activated charcoal granules in its inner space, wherein
the activated charcoal can be received in the form of cake or can be piled
up.
Also, the activated charcoal filter 11 and the dust removing filter 12 of
the filter means 5 are respectively formed with a plurality of wings 15 in
their upper periphery, to confirm stable mounting of the activated
charcoal filter 11 and the dust removing filter 12 by means of these wings
15.
In the present invention described as above, the filter means 5 as shown in
FIG. 1 is formed as conic-shape with joining the static electricity filter
10 charged with static electricity, the activated charcoal filter 11 made
of non-woven, filter papers, textiles, etc., impregnating the activated
charcoal therein, and the dust removing filter 12 which is provided to the
activated charcoal filter 11 by sewing or sticking thereto as it shields
the periphery of the activated charcoal filter 11. Thereafter, the outlet
filter 7 is mounted to the fixing frame 6, which is formed in the center
of the bottom part of the main body 1 and having the deflation hole 4. The
fixing frame 8 formed with the number of intake slit 9 is rotatably
mounted to the fixing part 6 via the outlet filter 7. Then, the filter
means 5 including the static electricity filter 10, the activated charcoal
filter 11, and the dust removing filter 12 is coupled to the fixing frame
8.
In the filter means 5, the activated charcoal filter 11 and the static
electricity filter 10 may be sequentially provided in the fixing frame 8
and the dust removing filter 12 may be provided outside the fixing frame
8, as shown in FIG. 3. Also, the activated charcoal filter 11 may be
provided in the fixing frame 8 and the static electricity filter 10 and
the dust removing filter 12 may be provided in sequence outside the fixing
frame 8, if desired.
Referring to FIG. 2, the activated charcoal filter 11 may be formed with
the container 13 of resin and the ventilative bag to be inserted in the
container 13. The ventilative bag is made of non-woven or textile net
impregnating the activated charcoal in its net. Also, the ventilative bag
may be put with activated charcoal granules in its inner space, wherein
the activated charcoal can be received in the form of cake or can be piled
up.
Also, the activated charcoal filter 11 and the dust removing filter 12 of
the filter means 5 are respectively formed with a plurality of wings 15 in
their upper periphery, to confirm stable mounting of the activated
charcoal filter 11 and the dust removing filter 12 by means of these wings
15.
As the above, if a vacuum cleaner accommodating the air filter of the
present invention is driven by the motor, various sludge and gas are
sucked into the intake port 2 of the dust collector 3 in a vortex flow and
filtered primarily by means of the dust removing filter 12 to remove the
dust and sludge, and next filtered by means of the activated charcoal
filter 11 and the static filter 10 to remove the dust of micron unit,
odor, gas, etc. completely, thereby discharging only filtered pure air.
Therefore, each kind of gas and odor including minute dust and inflammable
gas as well as the sludge are all removed while passing through the static
filters 10, the activated charcoal filter 11, the dust removing filter 12
by means of the filter networks, the activated charcoal ingredients and
the static electricity, so that only the pure air passed through these
filters may be deflated through the deflation hole 4 of the main body 1 of
the cleaner, thereby performing air purification function as well as
cleaning. The static electricity filter 10 sucks the activated charcoal
ingredients by the static electricity when the activated charcoal
ingredients are scattering, preventing sparks due to the scattering
activated charcoal ingredients, so that the fire or the explosion owing to
the inflammable gas can not occur even although the inflammable gas is
sucked.
Further, by providing the outlet filter 7 to the fixing frame 6, even in
case that the activated charcoal filter 11 or the static electricity
filter 10 is not installed, it is possible to prevent the activated
charcoal from scattering and permeating into the motor, making said
filtering function certain. Furthermore, the wings 15 are selectively
formed in said activated charcoal filter 11 and the dust removing filter
12 respectively and the wings are exposed outside the main body 1 of the
cleaner a little, so that it is possible to easily confirm stable
installation and existence and/or nonexistence of the filters by checking
the state of the wing-exposure.
The present invention, as described above, it is possible to deflate only
the pure air removing all the gas and odor included in the intaken
materials through this filtering process while cleaning fine, and realize
stable installation of the filters, by providing the filter means
including the activated charcoal impregnated filter, the dust removing
filter, and the static electricity filter to completely filter, each kind
of sludge sucked into the dust collector of the vacuum cleaner.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been
disclosed for illustrative purpose, those skilled in the art will
appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are
possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as
recited in the accompanying claims.
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